Marie-Therese Guyon Cadillac

Cadillac was born in Beauport, Quebec City, to her parents Elizabeth Boucher and Denis Guyon, the later a merchant and farmer. Both of her parents died before she turned twenty. It is not known who subsequently took care of her, but it is thought that her two brothers and her uncle may have played a role. On March 8, 1683, she was sent to the Ursuline Monastery of Quebec, where she would remain until April 4, 1684, before returning home in 1685.[1][2] In 1702, she became the first white woman to travel and reach Fort Pontchartrain De Troit. Cadillac joined her husband, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, who she had married on June 25, 1687.[3] While at the fort she engaged in many aspects of managing it, including signing contracts and hiring explorers. She served as the colony's doctor, and when her husband was away played an even larger role in the colony and eventually returning to France, until her death in 1740.[4][5]